The invention relates to a drum reactor for the manufacture of fertilisers and other raw materials from waste arising from animal husbandry, plant residues and other fermentable raw materials by aerobic fermentation, and having a drivable obliquely positioned rotary drum to hold the material to be fermented, and having an arrangement of air pipes with jets leading into the interior for blowing air into the rotary drum and comprising a feeder funnel disposed above the drum.
Such a drum reactor is known from German Patent Specification No. 20 26 728 and serves to process waste materials by fermentation to reproduce reusable products, for example fertilisers. For this purpose, the material to be fermented is poured into the drum reactor and subjected to the action of water and compressed air. With the onset of fermentation, gases and heat are generated which must be dissipated. The oxygen needed for this organic conversion process is carried in together with the air introduced under a slight over-pressure into the free space above the material to be fermented.
In the case of another apparatus such as is known from German Patent Specification No. 1 033 684, only the feed line is opened up which is located in the bottom part of the container while it is rotating, in other words the part in which the material to be fermented is contained.
With the prior art, there is on the one hand the danger of the oxygen not coming into sufficiently intimate contact with the material to be fermented and on the other that the material to be fermented which comprises a relatively low rate of permeability to air, will clog the air jets.